Startups

A list of startups with founders who spent time in the EDS.

Startups with a human connection to the EDS

The Engineering Design Studio is not a startup incubator, accelerator, venture studio, or investor, but there is a legacy of student entrepreneurs spending a vast amount of their undergraduate time at NYUAD in the EDS. Some worked on their startups as students, and some even ran their startups in parallel to their studies. Most, however, started or joined companies after graduation. The EDS, in no way, claims any credit for these startups; we are merely celebrating students who have gone on to do excellent things after having spent time co-conspiring with us.

1. imagiLabs. Beatrice and Dora graduated in 2016, and went on to found imagiLabs after completing their masters programs in 2018. imagiLabs is an educational hardware and software platform that works to build pathways for the broadest spectrum of human participation in the technology ecosystem. imagiLabs has been an outpost for many NYUAD interns and graduates over the years. Interestingly, Dora is now part of a tech power-couple, as her partner is a cofounder at Lovable.

2. Mission Mule. Martin, Zane, and Dani Carelli graduated in 2017 and 2018, and went on to build Mission Mule to serve wildlife conservation needs using autonomous aerial vehicles. Martin and Zane later co-founded Picogrid. Dani moved to SpaceX.

3. Picogrid. Martin, Zane, and Dan Chirita founded Picogrid in 2020 as they identified more complex remote sensing needs in the industry. Check out what Picogrid is up to now.

4. Coval. Brooke graduated in 2018, spent time at Google and Waymo, and went on to found Coval in 2024. Coval was part of the Y-Combinator Summer 2024 batch.

5. Borderless. Veronica and Shunsuke graduated in 2019. Veronica worked with imagiLabs for a couple years, and Shunsuke worked in personal mobility until they founded Borderless in 2022. Borderless helps connect students with international university opportunities. Check out what Borderless is up to now.

6. Physical Intelligence. Quan graduated in 2017, earned his PhD from UCSD in 2022, and went on to co-found Physical Intelligence. Quan spent a lot of his time at NYUAD in the EDS, specifically working on the RoadWatch project that won the 2016 Dubai m-gov service award.

7. hexafarms. David graduated in 2019 and went on to officially launch hexafarms in Berlin in 2022. He worked on early versions of hexafarms while he was a student at NYUAD. Check out what hexafarms is up to now.

8. Aiden.ai. Ling graduated in 2016 and Emil graduated in 2019. Both joined Aiden.ai as early software engineers, and in 2019, Twitter acquired Aiden.ai. Both Ling and Emil stayed with Twitter for a while after the acquisition. Emil later went to work with Picogrid.

9. Citadel AI. Kenny graduated from NYU Shanghai in 2017 but spent a significant time with us in Abu Dhabi, specifically working on the RoadWatch project that won the 2016 Dubai m-gov service award. He worked at Google in San Francisco for a few years after graduation and founded Citadel in 2020. Check out what Citadel AI is up to now.

10. Dismantly. Taza graduated in 2023. He started Dismantly to "Redefine the Auto Recycling Industry through software" and ran it from a desk in the EDS for many of his undergraduate years. Check out what Dismantly is up to now.

11. Auren Bikes. Will graduated in 2018 and went on to found Auren Bikes that produces "Bespoke Titanium bikes. Made to order based on your physical geometry, riding personality and budget". Check out what Auren Bikes is up to now.

12. Biggerlab. Rock graduated in 2015 and went on to found Biggerlab with the initial mission to create a space in Shanghai where exceptional project work could happen. He's evolved it into a youth programming education institution that combines technology and academics. Check out what Biggerlab is up to now.

13. Metorial. Wen graduated in 2025 and was accepted to the Y-Combinator Fall 2025 batch. Wen started Metorial as a student with a friend from back home, and worked on it, completely independently, while casually camped out in the EDS. Check out what Metorial is doing with MCP.

14. Diode. Nasheed graduated in 2025 and went on to join Diode (Y-Combinator Summer 2024) as one of their founding engineers. Check out what Diode is doing for the future of PCB design.